About Us

STARTUP Central Leadership

Lisa Friis

Academic PI

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Department Chair at the University of Kansas

Adam Courtney

Co-PI

President & CEO of Continuum Educational Technologies

CEO at KU Innovation Park

Tricia Bergman

Assistant Director

Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Development at the University of Kansas

EAC/SC

External Advisory Committee

Nick Love

Co-Founder & CEO of Love Lifesciences

Joni Cobb

Director of Practice Development at Creative Planning

Maggie Kenefake

Founder of Iron Prairie Ventures

Dennis Depenbusch

New Ventures Initiative at Cobalt Ventures

Jaya Ghosh, PhD

Lead Program Manager at MBArC & Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri

Tammy Ham, RN

President & CEO of CicloMed, LLC and President of BioNOVUS Innovations

Steering Committee Representatives

Amy Whitney, Ed.D, MBA, BA

University of North Dakota

Director at the Center for Innovation

Daniel Engebretson, PhD

University of South Dakota

Vice President of Research & Sponsored Programs

Michael Dixon, PhD

UNeMed Corporation

President & CEO

Andrew Pollock

University of Oklahoma

Managing Director at the Office of Technology Commercialization

Shelley Hooks

University of Kansas

Vice Chancellor for Research KU-Lawrence

Doug Wright, PhD

KU Medical Center & National Association of IDeA PIs

Professor & Vice Chair of Research & PI KINBRE Program, former President

NIH Project Coordinator

Olga Kovbasnjuk

National Institute of Health
Program Coordinator, Division for Research Capacity Building, NIGMS